Yankees manager Joe Girardi isn’t making any guarantees that Derek Jeter will be ready for Opening Day after fracturing his left ankle during Game 1 of the ALCS.
“He’s still basically non-weight-bearing, I believe, so, I really believe it might be a little push,” Girardi said of the shortstop being ready to go for the season-opener.
Girardi has spoken with Jeter occasionally during an offseason that began early for the 38-year-old after he suffered the injury fielding a ground ball against the Tigers.
Girardi said he knows it might not be easy for Jeter to get back on the field as soon as he had hoped. The injury wasn’t initially thought to require surgery, but Jeter ended up going under the knife in October, which lengthened the recovery process to up to five months.
“Just because of the rehab and you have to get the full strength and maybe you’re not able to start doing the things you normally would in January,” the manager said at Yankee Stadium, where he was packing boxes for the USO to ship to troops in Afghanistan. “So I think there’s a little bit of a question, but I think he’ll find a way, because that’s who he is.”
The manager added Michael Pineda and his surgically repaired right shoulder is expected back “sometime next year and hopefully we get the guy we traded for.”